Official Luthiers Forum!

Have you ever "tinted" a maple acoustic with any color? This is typically a treatment that an electric guitar might get. I realize that it is unconventional, but I don't mind being unconventional sometimes. I'm trying to decide whether to simply go with natural on my current maple OM build or perhaps add a little black transtint to the finish and give it a slight gray color. Maybe even bring out the figure with some transtint directly, then sand back. Or... I may bag the whole idea and just go natural...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

For figured maple I like to use a dark amber tint, light sand back, then clear. Something to pop the figure.

B

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

I've done a couple of Bird's Eye Maple with a darker amber tint. They looked pretty cool. They were double side with a rosewood inner side.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

That is super nice...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I'm in the exact same spot for an OM I am ready to finish made with quilted maple back and sides with a flame maple neck. Deciding what color, if any, right now is a tough decision. I started out thinking a full burst but I am about to wipe on a brown stain and then clear over, go for an old look. But I'm still not sure.

What other options are you considering with the black tint?

Following, got a sweet set of flamed cherry and thinking something like brown/red for that.
Or maybe purple?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Purple Colin? That IS unconventional...

Blake - What brown stain would you be using?

My idea would be similar to what you might see on the top of a Les Paul. A black transtint solution would be applied so that the dye penetrates, then sand to bring out the figure, and then mix a little black transtint in my finish (EM6000) and spray on a transparent black color. That would be followed by clear coats. It would not be too dark and the figure would show through. I would put on a couple of clear coats on first in case I need to try it again... Like I said, perhaps it would be unconventional on an acoustic, but it might look striking...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

The black Transtint stain followed by lacquer toned with Transtint seems like it would work well, and it I agree that it would have a Les Paul sort of appearance.

Staining maple to darken the grain normally "brings out" the grain but reduces the apparent movement / 3-dimensional appearance of figured maple. In the violin making world I understand that they generally prefer to finish so the movement of the grain shows.

Popping the grain with a stain is superior if you want to maximize how figured the wood looks in a still photo. Otherwise, there's no right or wrong--it just depends on how you want that particular finish to look.

If you want to darken the wood without reducing the apparent three-dimensional look, you can either use a colored finish, or pre-treat with a wash coat of shellac followed by dilute water-based aniline dye.

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Tim, that’s a good point about reducing the 3-D effect of figure. Something to consider...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com